“Do you want to open a personal checking account and receive a free $25″, the friendly bank lady asked me. “And if you blah blah blah, your wife she gets $25 too”, she added helpfully. Hmm, I don’t have one of those yet, I probably thought. I don’t remember how long you had to keep it open for the free cash money, but I’m sure it was reasonble.

“Sure, let’s do it.”

3 months later I received a letter in the mail explaining that my wife’s existing BoA disqualified us both from the free money. 3 months after that I tried to close my new account at a local California branch, but couldn’t because there was -$4.94 in savings. That’s right, negative money.

It turns out Washington BoA branches can’t talk to California branches, yet. I’m assured they’re working on it. Oddly, I had the business card of the bank lady who originally opened my free money account. She was able to reverse the minimum balance charge and close the account over the phone. Still very friendly.

I no longer open bank accounts just to get free money. Not even if you dangle sweet alumni-themed cards in front of me.

Make Your Own Ice Cubes

I mostly don’t know how much things cost at the grocery store. Unless it’s organic milk or peanut butter, I just buy the cheapest version. Either you need an item or you don’t. However, the actual price of something caught my eye recently.

Ice is practically free! It’s $.30/lb on Amazon Fresh, and I hear they deliver. If my math is correct, that means you’ll just need to cut back on absolutely nothing to make room for ice in the budget.

Time for a significant life decision: I will no longer be making my own ice in the little plastic trays.

This is a break from the long tradition of Lotts making their own ice, which I was indoctrinated into at an early age. I tried to convince my Dad that he also should stop making ice, but it was a stalemate. Apparently only future generations will be saving time and freezer space by fully adopting modern refrigeration.

Speaking of refrigeration, my current apartment came with the latest in home ice creation technology. I think these are reusable ice cubes (that don’t fit in the trays!?). I would test them, but that would violate my new policy of spending zero time creating ice.

3 Responses to Things I No Longer Do

1. I could see someone making an environmental argument about the “local-ness” of made at home ice as well as avoiding the throw-away plastic bag. That said, I would never make my own ice. Either my freezer makes my ice, my husband buys my ice, or I go without!

2. I was sorely disappointed that this list only had two things. I guess I could have guessed from the foreshadowing at the beginning. In retribution, this list ends… here.

Ah, the unfinished ice conversation!
I think it depends on your normal ice usage. Ours, for example, is quite small except for once or twice a year we need lots of ice for a large gathering. Normal days, ice cube trays are an adequate quantity, and for the outliers we purchase.
Transportation, storage, and convenience. There are probably other factors, but this enough.
Transportation and convenience: For normal days, we have ice delivered right to our house in a pipe. We just have to take the heat out (which we use to warm the house, so it doesn’t go to waste.) No extra time and effort for ice delivery!
Storage: Two trays 1.5x4x10 each = 120 cubic inches. When the top one is empty, go to the ice pipe (currently liquiefied for ease of transport), fill it up, and put it under the other tray.
Can you buy less than 20 pounds of ice? Let’s say you have to buy a minimum of 10 pounds. Figuring 40 pounds per cubic foot, that’s 432 cubic inches of storage dedicated to ice storage. Hmm, almost four times the space for purchasing a bag.
Normal days we never use more than a tray. Abnormal days are so few they don’t count. I think I agree with the other M: the freezer makes my ice